"All Iowa Reads" is a newly formed program
intended to promote reading in Iowa. The "All Iowa Reads" committee,
which includes our own Karen Keninger, Christie Vilsack, and several librarians,
has announced its selection for 2003, Peace Like a River, by Leif Enger (LT6721,
RC54212, and BRD20325 - in progress). The criteria for choosing the book called
for a broad appeal to readers high school age through adult, a universal theme,
and, if possible, a Midwestern setting or author.

Leif Enger sets his story in his native state of Minnesota
during the 1960's. Peace Like a River is at once a heroic quest, a tragedy, a
love story, and a haunting meditation on the possibility of magic in the
everyday world. It is about faith, miracles, and family. All citizens are
encouraged to read the chosen title. Book discussion groups may be held at local
public libraries and book stores to foster participation in the program.

The Iowa Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped
will be active in "All Iowa Reads" as well. Patrons are asked to read
Peace Like a River by Leif Enger and to consider joining a discussion group.
Several "Book Club" events will be held for our borrowers, including
telephone conference calls and small groups meeting at the three department
locations. The projected dates for the phone book clubs are April 30 and May 30.
Eight registrants will be accepted for each call. Group meetings will be
arranged in June, and additional dates will be added if demand is great. The
Library staff will facilitate each discussion. To register, call Marilyn at the
Iowa Department for the Blind, 800-362-2587 or 515-281-1348.

Do you miss reading the newspaper due to impaired vision
or a physical handicap? If so, you may be able to access news 24 hours a day, 7
days a week by signing up for one of the following services.

NFB-Newsline is a free dial-in service that provides more
than fifty newspapers, updated daily. Using a touch-tone telephone, you can
easily select an article of interest, which is read with computerized speech.
This service is sponsored by the National Federation for the Blind. To register,
call your reader's advisor.

Iowa Radio Reading Service (IRIS) will provide you with a
special, pre-tuned radio receiver to access its round-the-clock news offerings.
260 volunteers read Iowa newspapers, magazines, and other publications for this
non-profit organization. Over 50,000 Iowans keep up-to-date by listening to
IRIS. To ask if the service is available in your area, call our Administrative
Office at 800-362-2587.

Do you live within 80 miles of the Quad Cities area?
Augustana Public Radio Information Service (APRIS) also provides radio reading.
Some of its programming includes the N.Y. Times, Chicago Tribune, and The
Clinton Herald. For information, call 309-794-7560.

Noted Iowa authors and other public personalities helped
the Library introduce Iowa seniors to the pleasure and convenience of talking
books through two events called "Reading a la Mode." More than 1200
pamphlets about Talking Book Services were handed out at shopping malls in Des
Moines in October and November. The public was invited to hear stories well told
by authors Elizabeth McCracken and Roger Polt, dignitaries from local city
councils, mayor's and city manager's offices, chiefs of police and fire, talking
book narrators, and Mrs. Iowa 2002, among others.

Public service announcements will be broadcast this winter
telling about the wide array of recorded materials available through our
Library. If you know people who might be eligible to receive talking books,
please tell them what the program means to you. Help us spread the word!

September 6, 2002, was a day set aside for celebrating the
value of our volunteers. Transcribers, rewinding clerks, staff, and others
enjoyed seminars and guest speakers, and the Orientation students' buffet
luncheon was a scrumptious success. Gloria Alverson, who has contributed
countless hours of rewinding, was this year's recipient of the Elizabeth
Perowsky Volunteer Award.

Library patrons are encouraged to send notes of thanks to
the transcribers who fulfill individual requests for Braille and taped
materials. Such notes can be mailed to the Library. Address them to Beth's
attention, and she will forward them to the appropriate transcriber. We want our
volunteers to feel appreciated year-round!

The Iowa Regional Library for the Blind & Physically
Handicapped has been justifiably proud of its extensive Braille collection, the
largest in the United States. Over the past forty years, the impressive
collection has grown to a record 120,000 volumes. How to house the Library's
treasured resource has been a major challenge. Late last summer staff
implemented a historic change which resulted in shifting the Braille collection
from Dewey Decimal order (arranged by subject) to accession order (arranged by
number in order received). The Library pooled its human resources to tackle the
massive effort to gain more space. Book trucks, step stools, and metal book ends
were scarce and coveted commodities. At last on Thursday, September 18, 2002,
the monumental re-shelving effort was completed, and staff and volunteers took
time to celebrate their achievement. Although patrons may no longer browse the
braille collection by subject, they may still use the Library's on-line catalog
to search for material to read. Congratulations to all who were involved in this
huge undertaking.

Long winter nights seem to beg for hot tea or cocoa, an
afghan on the sofa, and a good book. Check out the following titles recommended
by various Library staff members: classic novels, favorite children's stories,
mysteries, and more. Many of the selections are available in several media, so
be sure to circle the format you want on the order form. Remember, BR= Braille;
RC= Cassette; and LT= Large Type.

BR9954, RC21574, LT3653 The Grapes of Wrath by John
Steinbeck. Pulitzer Prize-winning (1939) story of the Great Depression. The
Joads from Oklahoma are driven from their dust-bowl farm by the encroachment of
large agricultural interests. They set out to the promised land of California to
find work. Instead they face organized opposition to their struggle to survive.
Strong language.

BR11902, RC25178, LT844 Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.
Classic 19th-century novel, set on the moors of Yorkshire, about Heathcliff, a
foundling raised in the Earnshaw home, and his love for Catherine. He dedicates
his life to the realization of that love and vows revenge on those who oppose
him. First published 1847.

BR12559, RC49208, LT1940 Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane
Grey. Utah, 1871. When Jane incurs the wrath of her fellow Mormons for
befriending Gentiles, gunman Lassiter comes to her aid, making a startling
personal discovery. Violence. Published 1912.

BR12800, RC44849, LT5444 Tuesdays With Morrie; an Old Man,
a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson by Mitch Albom. Twenty years after
college, Mitch Albom rekindles his relationship with a former professor who is
terminally ill. His weekly visits with his mentor become a colloquium on the
meaning of life. Bestseller 1997. (Two of the staff picked this book.)

BR13456, RC38959, LT3928 Animal Farm by George Orwell.
Classic political satire targets Soviet Communism. The animals on a farm
overthrow their master and live a utopian life, until the intelligent pigs take
over -- and one establishes himself as dictator.

BR5919, BRN3005, RC22906 Where the Wild Things Are by
Maurice Sendak. After being sent to bed without supper for acting wildly, Max
puts on his wolf suit, sailing far away to where the wild things are. Grades
K-3. Caldecott Medal 1964. (Three of the staff picked this.)

BR8315, RC31971, LT142 Longshot by Dick Francis. John
Kendall, struggling author of survival manuals, agrees to write a biography of
champion horse trainer Tremayne Vickers in return for room and board and a small
fee. His research turns up the recent murders of two young women. When John
closes in on the solution, the murderer forces him to use his own survival
advice. Strong language. Bestseller 1990.

BR9405, RC46839, LT1753 Charlotte's Web by E. B. White. A
little girl who can talk to animals is devoted to both Wilbur, the foolishly
smug pig, and Charlotte, the beautiful gray spider who saves Wilbur's life.
Grades 3-6.

RC40507 Dreams Underfoot by Charles de Lint. Entwining
urban fantasy with social justice issues, this short story collection is set in
an imaginary city. Populating these urban myths are recurring characters who
meet monsters, goblins, ghosts, wizards, and Bigfoot in city alleys, clubs, and
cafes. Some strong language. High school and older.

RC40326 Pulp by Charles Bukowski. A satire on detective
novels. Nick Belane commands a fee of six dollars. Among his clients are Lady
Death, annoyed by the evasiveness of one of her targets; John Barton, in search
of the Red Sparrow; Jack Bass, convinced that his wife is unfaithful; and Hal
Grovers, troubled by a space alien. Belane tries in vain to make sense of this
sordid and absurd business. Strong language.

RC29081 In Pale Battalions by Robert Goddard.Historical
mystery of WWI period with multiple unexpected twists. Raised as the maltreated
ward of a cruel woman, Leonora is haunted by the riddle of her parentage. When
she reaches adulthood, the tragic tale of a British officer who balked at the
waste of war begins to unfold.

RC22968 On the Road with Charles Kuralt by Charles Kuralt.
Interviews by the popular CBS reporter who found quirky stories about the folks
in small towns from Lookingglass, Oregon, to Sopchoppy, Florida. Bestseller
1985.

RC37258, LT4650 Having Our Say; The Delany Sisters' First
100 Years by Sadie and Bessie Delany. The sisters recall having been
"colored" children in the late 19th-century South. Later Bessie became
the second black female dentist in New York, and Sadie was the first black
person to teach high school domestic science.

RC45678, LT5812 An Angel for Emily by Jude Deveraux. Angry
at being stood up by her fiance, Emily Todd is speeding down a curving road,
when she hits a man. Michael, unscathed by the accident, is actually Emily's
guardian angel, sent to protect her from some evil -- if only he knew what.
Bestseller 1998.

BR10210, RC36529 Laughing Gas by P.G. Wodehouse. Reginald,
the third earl of Havershot, goes to Hollywood to prevent the ill-contemplated
marriage of his cousin Egremont. The earl encounters even greater difficulties
when he accidentally ends up changing places -- and bodies -- with a famous but
spoiled child movie star.

BR11427, RC33082, LT4302 Gone With The Wind by Margaret
Mitchell. A romantic Civil War epic in which Scarlet O'Hara, forceful and
ruthless, and Rhett Butler, war profiteer, pursue a tempestuous love affair
against the backdrop of the war-torn South. Pulitzer Prize 1936. (If you loved
the movie, you will find the novel superior. Two of the staff picked this.)

RC18485 Little, Big by John Crowley. Poignant adult fairy
tale that chronicles five generations of the family of an eccentric Victorian
architect. Smoky Barnstable, a city boy, marries granddaughter Daily Alice
Drinkwater, and spends the rest of his life trying to understand their family, a
clan of mystics, sibyls, fairies and gnomes. Some descriptions of sex.

BR12850, RC36414, LT4310 To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper
Lee. Classic tale of injustice, friendship, and coming-of-age in 1930s Alabama.
Six-year-old Scout and her friends are fascinated by the mysterious Radley place
and its reclusive occupant. But their focus shifts when Scout's attorney-father
is called upon to defend a black man accused of rape. For senior high and older
readers. Pulitzer Prize 1960.

BR9731, RC33948 The Pelican Brief by John Grisham. Two
Supreme Court Justices are murdered on the same night. One is very old and
extremely liberal; the other is young, erratically conservative, and a closet
homosexual. A top law student, Darby Shaw, investigates the cases due to come
before the high court and pinpoints the mastermind behind the murders. Now
Darby's running for her life. Violence, strong language, and explicit
descriptions of sex.

BRD18160, RC45024, LT4847 Rosehaven by Catherine Coulter.
England, 1277. Severin of Langthorne, having returned from the Holy Land to find
his estate in ruin, accepts an offer to wed Hastings of Trent and become lord of
her lands upon her father's death, which is imminent. Hastings, a strong-willed
girl who has no desire to be subservient to a man she detests, uses her
knowledge of herbal medicine to her benefit. Violence, descriptions of sex.
Bestseller 1996.

BRN13984, RC17020, LT2755 The Witness for the Prosecution
by Agatha Christie. Eleven short mysteries, some with psychological or
supernatural plots. 1954.